Even though the District of Vanderhoof is losing 11% of its tax revenue in 2026, Vanderhoof's Mayor Kevin Moutray remains optimistic about the future.

By Tommy Osborne

Vanderhoof Mill Closure

Mill closure results in loss of 11% of District revenue for Vanderhoof, how will it respond?

Jan 8, 2026 | 4:49 PM

VANDERHOOF – The closure of the Canfor Plateau Sawmill was announced in September, 2024, and was known to be a big hit to the District of Vanderhoof. The numbers now reveal the loss to be $580,000, which is 11% of the District’s total taxation. Despite this significant loss, Vanderhoof Mayor Kevin Moutray says he remains optimistic about the community’s future.

“That’s definitely a big loss in taxation, but it is actually something that we’ve been anticipating for some time. We’ve been preparing for this since Houston had the West Fraser shut down 12-ish years ago, so we’ve been doing steps to mitigate that action. One of those was setting aside an industrial reserve, which will buffer the impact of those taxes that we can spread over years just to soften the blow of it,” Moutray said.

A huge tax loss like this obviously isn’t ideal, but Moutray says the community understands the forestry industry is on a downturn, so Vanderhoof has been looking to diversify into other industries. A huge benefit is expected in the form of a 1.44 billion dollar Artemis Gold expansion into the Blackwater mine, but Moutray says the District is working on more than just that.

“We’re trying to keep the forestry jobs we have up and going, but it’s going to be 30 years before it comes back on strong. In the meantime, we have to take advantage of those other industries, and agriculture is another big one in our community, that’s been a mainstay,” Moutray said.

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As Vanderhoof navigates this $580,000 loss, Moutray wrote in a letter addressed to the community that “a key priority is to minimize the increase in taxation for residents and businesses, while continuing to fund the essential operational activities and core services the community relies upon.”

“I will be looking at basically all departments, asking them to take a review and see where some costs can be saved within the current budget,” Moutray said.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of them all is the resource benefit allowance Vanderhoof receives from the provincial government.

“This is intended for infrastructure replacement, it’s $3.8 million coming into our budget that we didn’t have three years ago. That will keep those infrastructure programs going, so even with the loss we’re actually sitting in a better place than we were three years ago,” Moutray said.

If you have any questions or concerns, Moutray encourages anyone to reach out to the District of Vanderhoof office, where he would be happy to explain how Vanderhoof is looking to navigate this significant revenue loss.

Pattison Media is owned by the Jim Pattison Group, a majority shareholder in Canfor.